The Wood Shed

This is an arial view of my wood shed. My Hardy sits about 50 feet from the house

The Dolmar 7900

As far as I'm concerned this is the baddest saw on the planet.

Husqvarna 346 XP

This is by far the greatest saw ever made. The 16 inch bar could easily be a laser beam the way it slices through wood.

346XP at Rest

Here is a picture of my 346XP. I just cut up these locust rounds before I snapped this picture

Big Orange

Say hello to my little friend! (use your best Al Pacino voice) Big Orange is a Husky 455 Rancher with an 18 inch bar. This thing is bad news. It is such a powerfull saw but I am suprised how smooth it operates and how easy it is on fuel.

14 inch Poulan

I swear by the Poulan's. I know they are described by some as cheap "throw away" saws but I have had great sucess with mine. This one is six years old and still runs strong.

Fiskars Super Splitter

Throw your 6# maul away and get yourself one of these. This may be the greatest invention ever.

My stuff

This is a picture of my Hardy H2, my homemade woodshed and my woodpile for the winter of 08-09. The Hardy is in the middle of the woodpile. I use my woodpile as a windbreak and a snowfence.

Heat Exchanger Installed

This is me installing the heat exchanger. This should give you a good idea its location and approximate size. The tan thing is my forced air furnace in the basement

Heat Exhanger pt.2

This is what the heat exchanger looks like once installed. The orange lines are the 3/4 inch hot water Pex lines that carry the water between my OWB and the heat exchanger. If you lean in and squint you can see the copper tubes in the exchanger. A closeup is provided below.

Close up of the Heat Exchanger

I added this picture to show you a close up of the heat exchanger. It looks just like a radiator from a large truck. I did all this installation myself saving $1000.

Pex lines coming thru basement wall

The two lines going to the left are the feed and return for my hot water tank. The two lines to the right go between the OWB and the heat exchanger.

Tee on hot water tank feed

My Hardy H2 also heats my domestic hot water. The top line goes out to the OWB to pick up heat and the bottom line fills my hot water tank with hot water. You can see the valves I can switch to bypass this when my Hardy is not burning in the summer.

Followers

About Me

I am a family man who asked a simple question..."Why do I have to pay money to heat my house?" Well, after some research I found my answer in purchasing an Outdoor Wood Boiler (OWB). Specifically a Hardy H2. While nothing is free...I traded money for my labor...I have been heating my 3000 sq ft. home for the last five years without spending a dime in gas. I hope you find this blog helpful if you are interested in buying one of these smokers or even if you have a OWB and just want to hang out with someone who knows a little bit about your life. I hope you get a chance to stop by as our house is always warm, no matter how cold it is outside.

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Ok**I like to surf the internet and spend my fair share of time on YouTube watching chainsaw related videos. There are some really cool videos of people cutting down trees, cutting up firewood, or just showing off their new saw. It’s pretty fun and I have learned a lot just watching these. The more I visit sites dedicated to woodcutting, chainsaws etc. the more I stumbled upon a clothing company who makes duds for people who climb trees or work with chainsaws. Arborwear is their name and…here’s what’s really cool…they happen to be headquartered in my back yard of Northeast Ohio! Their website was pretty inviting and they seemed to be a down to earth company so I stopped out at their place to find they have an outlet store. Wow…pretty cool! I picked up a couple pair of pants and this really cool chainsaw shirt pretty cheap. I never find shirts that have chainsaws on them without some perverted reference of the word “wood” so I was excited to pick this one pictured above.*I had my new shirt on the other day when I was visiting a land owner to discuss his trees he was giving me for firewood. While I was talking with him his dog, evidently bothered by the menacing “crossed chainsaws” motif on my shirt, decided to attack me. He jumped on me causing me to twist away. The fierce animal latched onto my shirt and ripped it. Scary, when I think about it now. I was close to losing a portion of my mid-section to this beast. If I decide to return to this lot to cut up trees I will bring along some “protection” if this dog decides to come back. Here is a close-up of the damage. It's a good thing this dog was a Poodle or otherwise it could have really caused damage!

I will post some other pictures of my new pants later. I’m really impressed with Arborwear’s quality and the thought that goes into their products. Yes, having an awesome saw like the Dolmar 7900 in the woods is important…but looks count for something too. Oh, how my wife can resist me I’ll never know.*OWB